Matthew Tiessen is an Assistant Professor in Professional Communication (ProCom) in the Faculty of Communication and Design (FCAD) at Ryerson University (Toronto). Dr. Tiessen was recently awarded a SSHRC Insight Development Grant in the area of “Digital Economy” to support his research on issues related to gamification and algorithmically-driven technologies. His research and teaching focus on digital and visual communication and culture, especially topics relating to algorithmic culture, gamification, financialization, and digital media. In 2013, he completed a SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Ryerson’s Infoscape Research Lab: Centre for the Study of Social Media. Prior to his postdoc Matthew’s doctoral research on affect theory, agency, ethics, and creativity was funded by a Killam Memorial Scholarship and a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship.

His research has been featured in an interdisciplinary range of academic journals and anthologies, such as: Theory, Culture & Society; Cultural Studies<=>Critical Methodologies, Volume; CTheory; Rhizomes: Cultural Studies in Emerging Knowledge; Surveillance & Society; Space and Culture; Pli: The Warwick Journal of Philosophy; Revisiting Normativity with Deleuze (2012, Bloomsbury); Ecologies of Affect: Placing Nostalgia, Desire, and Hope (2010, Wilfrid Laurier University Press); and What Is a City? Rethinking the Urban after Hurricane Katrina (2008, University of Georgia Press). He is also an exhibiting artist.